Jealous Guy
by HeyBulldogProductions
Summary: It's Freddie's quest in life to be truly happy after his mother's death and moving in with his father. But jealousy always seems to step in the way. He ends up falling for three different girls. Although he seems to sway towards one, will he end up with her? Read to find out!
1. Mother and my birthday

**Jealous Guy**

Chapter 1: Mother and my birthday

(Freddie's POV)

Eighteen candles on my birthday cake seemed almost unrealistic to me. Just yesterday it seemed, I had a squeaky kid's voice, my shirts always draped my muscle-less arms, and my mother would always force me to bathe in mountain loads of products to repel any living creature away from my body (it worked on girls too). Now, my voice has dropped several octaves, athletic fit tees seemed to be the only thing that fit, girls can swarming left and right when I pulled out my special vampire voice and just eighteen days ago, all the fuss that my mother had over me vanished, just as she did.

Technically, I was an adult, but I was too broke to rent out the apartment my mom had at bushwall, so I had to live with my dad. The apartment I rented from Lewbert that time I 'moved out' was rented by a custodian in the building, Carlos. I had no problems living with my dad, but he lived on the complete other side of Seattle, away from everything I'd grown accustom to when I grew up. This'd mean I'd have to move school districts, shop at their local mall, start all over and was only able to drive over and do iCarly once a week without showing up to rehearsals except through video chat, which always lagged because I was never there to fix it. It sucks majorly. Not only that, but to me, my dad was almost as complete stranger besides the occasional birthday card from him that I found in the mail before my mom hid it in her closet to collect dust.

My dad and I finally had unpacked all my things about three days ago. The duplex my dad lived in wasn't nearly as neat as my mom's place, but it did alright. It was a small little bachelor pad but allowed space for another person or two, but that pushed it. My dad was a surgeon, so he didn't have a lot of time to tidy up or 'teen-proof' the house like my mom did, let alone squeegee every living corner of the tables or tackle dust bunnies with a shark vacuum. Everything was in array. When I wasn't busy with homework or talking to Carly or Sam on the phone, I'd occasionally grab the broom and sweep around a few times.

The one day he actually got off work, we barely got past an awkward 'hello' and 'how's the weather?' conversation over breakfast before I husked off to my new school, grumbling fits of regrets and the math formulas for my trigonometry test under my breath.

Today, a Thursday oddly enough, I found my dad sitting at the island in the kitchen. A homemade chocolate cake with frosting and a pattern of colored jimmies clinging to the frosting sat on a cake platform. A one and a seven candle were penetrating the shallow region of the cake. Taking two steps forward, a blue envelope and a royal blue balloon were sitting beside a lighter. My dad, appearing out of the corner, formed a smile as he met me in the kitchen. He put his steaming coffee mug to his face and gulped before saying, "Happy birthday"

His smile stuck through as we half-hugged awkwardly. "Your mother would've…well, done a better job than me. I hope I did well. Not really used to this sort of thing; having a kid and celebrating birthdays and all. I see kids at the hospital all the time have birthday parties that their parents throw for them. It's a lot harder than I imagined it being. Trying to make it special, I mean. Like I said, I know it sucks, your face says it all" he laughed and took another sip of his coffee and tried to smile at me.

"You did…exceptional. Thanks" I gave him a smile right back. It brought out the first true smile I'd seen from him all morning. I could tell it was real because most of his face was relaxed.

"The fact that you remembered my birthday and went through some trouble to give me what mom gave me…and put thought in it to make it meaningful…thanks" I struggled with what to say with him. I wasn't really allowed to know my dad that well as a kid. My mom took custody and changed my last name to her maiden name, Benson instead of keeping my father's name, Karev, the second she signed the divorce papers. Nothing nasty happened in their divorce or marriage; they just didn't click…_that_ way. My mom was just a lot older (ten years, to be exact) and more mature than my dad was. My dad wasn't a bad guy either, I mean, the guy's got a medical degree and treats little kids for a living. The way my mom spoke of him, he didn't really fit into the whole 'dad' thing, hence why she was so anal about raising me.

"Anytime" He placed one of his hands on his hips and took the other one to light the candles, mumbling some things to himself. Placing the lighter down in a drawer by the sink, he gave me some time to sit down and think long and hard about what my wish would be. He pondered by the sink a little bit, catching a glimpse of the oven stove before shuffling over to me and sitting next to me.

"Do you want the song, or?" Again, it was totally sensed that he didn't get the whole parenting thing just yet. Another look at the clock also told me he had to be at work shortly and was trying to rush me in a polite way.

"Nah, I'll just blow them out" I took a huge gust of wind back and blew both of the candles out simultaneously. My dad patted my back and took out three papers plates, a cutting knife and two forks. He put the candles onto one plate and slid it closer to the dishwasher. I cut us both a piece that we ate in peace. Man, this cake was delicious! Is this what inorganic, gluten filled cake tasted like?

"Oh my goodness, this cake is…amazing!" Some crumbles tumbled down my face and onto my blue plaid button-up. I could see some crumbs rolling down my dad's face and into the pocket of his navy blue scrubs.

"Really?" He questioned. "I've never been much of a baker. My girlfriend taught me all I know."

"Well, she taught you good!" I chomped down on the forkful that I had in my hand, leaning my head back and nodding. Oh yeah, best cake ever. I've had real cake before, don't get me wrong, but this one, by far, pardon my pun, took the cake. My dad gleamed as if he'd just won a noble prize or figured out the cure for Alzheimer's. He may not know his stuff that well as far as what a dad's supposed to do, but from the looks on my face, my smile that's identical to his, he pretty much got the message that he did a good job, so far. It was a learning process for both of us. Not so much me because I already had a parent, but it was more or less adjusting to the fact that this parent didn't wear a bra or smell like the inside of a Victoria Secret catalogue.

"I gotta head to the hospital in a minute, wanna grab your coat and I can drop you off at your friend's house?" My dad ran his hands through his light brunette hair that barely covered the top of his fingers and put on some ridiculously big specs. I had to stifle my laughter. I'd seen him wear them before, but I got a better look at how ridiculously big they were up close.

"I know, my glasses are sexy" he joked. "They didn't have any other frames that fit my head that were men's"

"No, you look like…Clark Kent. Great glassage-wear, Superman"

"Ha, very funny." I looked at him again. Usually seeing him in scrubs, I saw him wearing a light blue polo with tan colored khakis. Just by looking at us, you could tell I was the spitting image of my father, something my mother also regretted.

"Anyway, friend's house?" He spoke a minute later, breaking the awkward silence between us.

"But dad, it's a school day" I slung my blue one-strap backpack on my shoulder and put my disposable plate and fork into the garbage can, along with my dad's. He grabbed his PearPad, PearPhone, and some extra tennis shoes off the table.

"I know. But, your friends have a surprise, apparently" He smiled again and grabbed his keys off a hook near the door with his coat, shifting everything into his right arm as he used his left to open the door.

"Oh!" He snapped his fingers and dug through his pants pocket with his free hand once we were outside to pull out his wallet.

"I didn't know what to get you, exactly, so here's some cash. There's four hundred bucks in there, happy birthday."

"Thanks, mom always gave me money too."

"I hope I gave you as much as she did."

"Plenty, thanks."

I grinned happily, and then smirked. I didn't mention to him that my mom only gave me eight bucks at a time.

…

My dad and I rocked out to some classic rock on the way to the hospital. Unlike my mom, who always drove five to fifteen miles under the speed limit with a 'baby on board' sign hanging from her prius window, my dad had a black dodge challenger with white racing stripes and did about ten miles over the speed limit, which was speeding, but not so much that the cops could catch you doing it. Even in the cloudy weather of Seattle, he had his sunglasses on.

A song called "Smells like teen spirit" by Nirvana came on. Dad turned the radio up so loud that the car actually shook. It created a pseudo-sense of freedom for me that I would've considered an out of body ordeal. The volume my mom had her classical music on was so low that even people with supersonic-like hearing, like me, still had trouble hearing it. Not that I ever had to because I always listened to my own music on my PearPhone.

"I feel like I'm in the middle of a Los Angeles earthquake!" I screamed over the heavy guitar and drums. My dad nodded and tapped to the beat of the song with his hands and the steering wheel.

"Nothing better to wake a man up in the morning like some black coffee and a little rock and roll vibration, that's what I always say" He laughed and turned down the volume a tad, patting my shoulder.

"So, these kids you hang around with, tell me about them. I know your mom knew them quite well, but I'm trying to get more into the 'dad mode' by being semi-protective about the kinds of people you associate with" He put both hands back onto the steering wheel and merged into the next lane.

I scoffed.

"Compared to my mom, I don't think you could _even_ come close. She implanted a chip in my brain so she could locate me anywhere on Earth!"

This time, he had to stifle back his laughter.

"It did come in handy a few times, but still. It was irritating to know that a foreign chip GPS device was buried in my skull."

"I could take that out, you know. I _am _a doctor. We get to take advantage of the OR's so I could even take it out tonight after your surprise with your friends as an additional birthday present and as a part of officially being an adult, no more GPS tracking device in your skull."

"Seriously? Oh man, that'd be the best! Then Sam couldn't thwack my head every time we're out and make some comment about how I'm like those dogs that get the chips put into their shoulders."

"Even I have to admit, a chip is a _little _over the top."

"That was my mom for ya" I said as if she was still alive.

"Yeah, I know. Marissa was always protective over her family members, including me when we were married for a year. I was quite a bit younger than her, and we hadn't exactly known each other for long before we got married, so she laid her eyes extra closely on me. Then you came and became her prime focus. She never took her eyes off you, even when you were sleeping. You never cried much, but she always insisted on sitting by your crib. The minute you'd stir, she'd bolt up from her seat and made sure you were ok. She really took care of you. I was just the guy that put your diapers on backwards and that you threw up on all the time. Your mom was…quite the caregiver. You couldn't have been in better hands. Ever."

I smiled and let a small tear slip at the mention of how much she cared about me. I loved my mom with all my heart.

"Back to what I was saying about your friends? You said something about a girl named Sam?" He clearly urged to get off the subject of my late mother, as it was starting to make us both a bit on the border line of emotions.

"Sam? Yeah, she's one in a million…." I stopped what I was saying and stared off beyond the windshield in front of us as it started to rain. Rain always dazzled me, but it got me off-topic

"She and Carly co-host our show, iCarly" I picked what I was saying back up.

"iCarly, huh? I'll have to watch it soon."

"You should. These girls are hilarious. Carly's about the sweetest pea you'll ever meet. With her shiny brunette hair, breath-stopping smile, and cute dimples, you'd fall in love right on the spot. Sam's a little more complicated. She's this vicious, pernicious blonde with a big heart and bad-ass attitude."

"Sam sounds like this one doctor we have at the hospital, Bailey. We call her 'The Nazi'. Get her mad and you're just asking for your ass to be kicked your entire shift, which could be forty-eight hours long. Bailey's got a good heart, though."

"So does Sam, I just wish she'd bring it out more and stop hiding behind the façade. When we were…"

I drifted off just as an ambulance swept through the intersection. I could see my dad eyeballing it intently and so did I. I was considering either going in the direction of a film maker or a doctor, the ambulance passing by just reminded me of anatomy and physiology last year. That class kicked my ass all the live-long day.

"Man, I wonder what happened…." My dad muttered, rubbernecking to the point where people honked at him to go when the light changed colors.

"You were saying?" He asked, glancing over at me. I lifted my hand up and slapped it back down on my lap.

"Never mind."

My dad never touched on the subject of Carly or Sam again, so I kept it that way by talking about him being a surgeon. I didn't want to blurt out the full details of our friendship with them, some of it is scared. I literally just moved and hadn't spoken more than three words to the guy until today. I might've even just said too much when I was talking before.

We pulled up by bushwall and he let me out.

"Call me if you need anything. Stay out of trouble, last thing I need in my ER today is my kid requiring the defibrillator."

"No problemo, Padre, adios!" I waved off as he floored out of the parking lot. The rain was still drizzling, so I got a bit wet outside. I shook my head like a wet dog upon my entrance. Lewbert was asleep at the counter, so I didn't have to worry about being scolded at today. I took the elevator upstairs and knocked three times before creaking to door open and slowly walking into the apartment. No one was there.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" I beckoned, looking at my phone and muttering to myself, "Carly's text said to come right in and-"

Before I could stop talking to myself, someone jumped on my back and covered my eyes with one hand, their other hand on my shoulder.

"Guys! Hurry! Guys! He's here!" The girl on top of me yelled as I tried to spin around in a circle to shake her off. I laced my hands under her legs as we both fell over from being unbalanced. When I opened my eyes, a bundle of blond hair had attacked my face. I coughed to get the hair out of my mouth. Whoever the hair belonged to was lying limply on top of me, groaning. The shifting of my equilibrium fogged my thought process, but I was pretty darn sure of who is was that tackled me.

"Benson…you weren't supposed to fall over" She moaned, rolling off of me (and potentially dismantling little Jimmy and the twins in the process). It was Sam. I was right. As she stood up, I saw Carly, Spencer, and Gibby standing behind her, grinning and containing their fits of laughter.

"Well, when you wrestle and attack me like a football player, how am I supposed to react? I'm not Dolly Sunshine" I spat with some fire, pushing myself off the ground and dusting myself off. They all began to laugh until Carly conducted and shushed them all whilst holding a chocolate cupcake with a candle on top.

She began, "In five…"

Spencer spoke next, "four…."

Then Gibby, "three…"

Sam, lastly, "two…"

All together now, "Happy birthday!" Spencer and Gibby had noisemakers hanging from the corners of their mouths like cigarettes. Sam and Carly had slung their arms around me and swayed side to side. "For he's a jolly good fellow!" They sang as they swaying séance continued. At last, I was standing still, both girls arms still around me.

"Awww, you guys" I patted both Carly and Sam on their sides and smiled. "You guys are the best."

"Blow out your candle!" Carly hip bumped me, which had the domino effect and I ended up hip bumping Sam. It turned into a battle of who could hip bump who the hardest. Carly and Sam didn't have someone on the other side of them, so they wouldn't be getting as sore as I was.

"Before my lovely cupcake gets destroyed, may I blow it out?" My voice was jumpy as Sam had the last bump. I glared at her without moving my head. Still not moving my head, I could tell she was giving me a look almost equivalent to flipping me the bird.

"Sure!" Carly yelled. "In five, four, three, two…"

"ONE!" Spencer screamed, pushing a button on his automatic candle. The cupcake exploded on Carly, leaving white icing and some chocolate cake bits in her hair and on her dress. Sam and I back away just in time. Carly spat out a huge chunk that landed in her mouth.

"Sorry" Spencer whispered, throwing the remote at Gibby, which hit him in the gut.

"Ow!"

"Well, I'm going to go clean this mess up" she said all too calmly with her eyes closed. "Watch your back, Shay" she pointed at Spencer and grunted as she pounded angrily up the steps.

"She seems mad" I said, stating the obvious.

"Nah, I'm too cute to stay mad at, right Sam?" Spencer turned to Sam for an honest answer. Sam kind of ducked behind me with her arm still around my neck to avoid the question.

"I plead the fifth on this one, cake bomber. Why don't you as Le Gibby?"

"Gibs!" He turned to Gibby. Even though he just hit Gibby in the gut a minute ago, the Gibster retorted with a fist pump.

"Yeah! We're _both_ cute!"

"And sexy!" Spencer spurted out.

"And we know it!" Gibby sang, starting to dance in a way that made us all hang our heads to shame, except Spencer who joined in, dancing a little less…slutty. Gibby and Spencer kept dancing and were now singing "Shots" at the top of their lung capacities. Sam and I, still holding onto one another, stood in the middle of the living room.

"So, whatcha wanna do today?" She asked, turning her head my way to block out the semi-stripper dancing Spencer and Gibby preformed on the coffee table. I met her eyes with my own and bit my lip, shrugging.

"I dunno"

"C'mon, man, you're officially an adult. Let's do something radically insane!" Sam began to sway us again. Not questioning her movement, I swayed with her.

"Such as? And nothing _too _illegal! I promised my dad I wouldn't end up in an ER today, Puckett."

"I was just going to suggest…karaoke? I mean…" She pointed over to Spencer and Gibby, who have worked their way onto a table behind Sam and I. Gibby had his shirt off and was whipping Spencer in the butt with it. "They have a few places at the mall where you can sing and stuff. Plus, we could grab a bite in the food court and go to that point-and-shoot nail gun store!"

It sounded like a cough more than a laugh that came from my mouth, but it was followed with "These two singing on stage? Food? Nail guns? Someone slap my ass and call my Susie-Sally, we got our agenda for the day!"

…

"I can't believe we got thrown out of _another_ karaoke place because of you two!" Carly ranted and stomped out of yet another karaoke singing place at the mall. Sam and I followed right behind her, trying to keep up with her and her wrath. Spencer and Gibby were ushered out by two giant security guards. Gibby had his shirt torn into bits and one shoe missing. Spencer was missing both his shoes and one sock.

"No shoes, no shirt, not allowed in? Psh, since when do people _actually _follow that rule?" Gibby asked casually once released by the security guard. Carly charged up to him and pointed an accusing finger.

"How about, ummm, Every _normal _homo sapien!"

Spencer and Gibby both giggled. "She said homo."

"That tears it!" She lunged for both of their necks.

"Whoa, Shay!" Sam stepped in between Carly and Gibby. "You can kick Gibby's little Gibby's later, but it's Fredward's escape of the womb day."

"Escape of the womb day?" I cocked an eyebrow and leaned into her.

"Birthday sounds so…nonchalant, and boring." Sam was still in her shielding position between Carly and Gibby. She finally stood erect.

"Ok, let's do this: Carly, you go cool off with a frozen coffee in Gloria Jean's. Freddie and I will meet you there after we pay a visit to the nail gun store. And you two" She pointed at both Gibby and Spencer. "You two go into that store next to Sears. It seems appropriate for you two…freaks."

"Cool!" Gibby and Spencer booked it down the stairs by the karaoke shop we were just kicked out of.

"Wait! Spencer, you're not allowed in that store again! Grandad said so!" Carly ran after the two frolicking weirdoes. Sam turned to me and took a step back, lifting her hands and slapping them to her sides.

"Ready for your present, Mr. Benson?" Sam asked, lifting her foot up to begin walking ahead of me.

I skipped along behind her, putting my arm around her in a friendly manner. "At the nail gun store? Of course, Miss Puckett. Let's-a-go!"


	2. How we operate

**Jealous Guy**

Chapter 2: How we operate

(Freddie's POV)

Sam and I walked silently into the nail gun store as she rubbed her hands together perniciously. I stopped dead in my tracks, looking at her wide-eyed.

"Uh oh, last time you had that look, Gibby got shot in the butt by your paintball gun."

"Not my fault that Gibby didn't understand what 'get the hell out of my way' means, besides, a little color never hurt anyone" She snorted a laugh and shrugged it off like no big deal as we started looking around. The newest edition of nail gun, the Newton, was set on display in the center of the smallish store.

"Oh man, Sam!" I yelled as she was looking at different nails near the front of the store. "They got the Newton gun in stock!" Sam has been waiting for this particular nail gun ever since the store first opened and she saw it in the catalogue, and quite frankly, so was I. IT was love at first glance. The gun itself was called the Newton because of Newton's third law of motion: every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Not only did this mind-blowingly defy that law completely, but it made the gun more like a person with emotions than an inanimate object. You shoot hard, the gun hits you just as hard on the backside, sending you flying backwards like the cowboy's in the movies. Whenever they did that with a regular shot gun, it was incorrect. A regular gun could never propel that kind of reaction, it was the law. If they ever made a cowboy movie with this nail gun, however, then I'd be able to accept that Newton's law was being broken.

Sam walked over slowly with a smile on her face. "My precious" she said in a raspy voice, evilly brushing her fingertips together and grabbing a box. She stroked the box and hugged it to her like a child. Her face fell when she saw the price tag.

"$375!" she made a 'hmph' sound affect as she was about to put it back. I grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Don't worry, I got this" I pulled out four 100 dollar bills from my pocket. Sam nearly flipped her shit the whole time we checked out at the register. The only time the gun left her hands was when the cashier scanned it for the price. Once in the bag, Sam grabbed it from the bagger and held it to her just as she had before. I let her carry the bag as we left, watching her skip like a little kid that just got a new toy. For Sam, this was the equivalent, until she got a text message. She halted about 100 feet away from me and giggled in her reply back.

"Who's that?" I asked, catching up to her. She handed the bag back to me calmly.

Her face was slowly beginning to form a blush. "No one."

I smirked as I realized I'd just begun to crack something with her. "No one, huh? I see. You know what else I see, giggles? Your face is getting beat red." Her face got redder, just as I predicted. The redder it got, the more antagonal my smirk became.

"Wipe the look off, chip boy!" She growled, smacking me upside the head.

"You can't call me that for long. I'm getting it out tonight. Dad's taking me to the hospital tonight to do it."

"We _woopdy-doo._ Congratulations to you" she spat. Her attitude was slowly beginning to descend downhill.

"Sam, quit stalling..." I cornered her as we got on a vacant elevator in the mall to meet Carly at Gloria Jean's on the next floor down. "No one is _definitely _someone."

"Well, it's kind of awkward to talk to you about...since we used to date and all...but, I just made it official with this guy yesterday. Joey's his name."

"Joey, huh?" I crossed my arms as the bag hit my thigh a few times. "He sounds like a stand up guy" I perked a corner of my mouth up and wagged my head as I said that, over exaggerating my obvious joy for her, not.

"Awwww, you jelly?" she talked in a baby voice and threatened to pinch my cheek.

"Nah, I'm just playin', Puckett" I perked my voice up a bit as I bopped her in the shoulder with my shoulder. "No, seriously, if he makes you happy, I'd like to meet him. I'll be shacked at the hospital for a few days, so you can tell him you beat me up and put me in there for an ego boost if you wanna."

Sam laughed as the elevator doors opened. "Not necessary. He knows I can kick anyone's ass for any reason. I made that clear the second we met. Plus, I already told him about us when we hung out yesterday. That's when he asked me to be his…well"

"Girlfriend? It's ok, the word's not gonna eat you." I laughed and stuffed my hands in my pockets.

She gulped as if she was scared to ever say that word again. "Yeah, girlfriend, whatever. He asked me to be his girlfriend right after we talked about you and the rest of the crew."

"Anything bad about me?"

She looked down at her feet when she answered me. "No, mostly about how you and I were friends first then-"she stopped in mid sentence to answer her phone.

"Joey? Hey, baby! I was just talking about you..." her face lit up like a birthday cake as she plugged her ear to hear him in the middle of the noisy mall.

_Baby? Pft. _I tuned out to their conversation as we began the long walk over to Gloria Jean's, which was on the other side of the mall from the elevator. Sure, Sam and I weren't dating anymore, but we'd grown closer as friends in spite of it all. We could finally chill out together and be kinder to each other without Carly being out mediator. Dating didn't work out for us, but it sure as heck strengthened out our friendship. I had a right to be jealous, being her ex and all. It was a rule. I had the God given right to get green eyed about Joey. Something in my gut told me otherwise. It was possibly my conscience, but whatever it was, it told me to just smile and walk on just as Sam was doing.

So I did.

...

Carly had somehow managed to make up with Gibby and Spencer while Sam and I were away. The three of them were laughing up a storm when we were approaching. She ended her phone conversation with a quick and awkward 'bye' as she saw Carly at the table.

"Hey guys!" Carly spotted us and waved us over.

"Hey! Lookie what mama and daddy-o got!" She gestured to both of us then pulled out the nail gun for everyone to gander at. She was telling Carly about all the special features that the gun had and how she was plotting to use it on Mr. Howard after his deed of giving her a straight week of detention because she commented on his lack of hair.

"I figured if I shot him right in the middle of his back, he'd snap right in half! Like a twig!"

"Sam, you know it's not to make teachers snap in half. Even in a twig-like manner!" Carly was scolding her like a schoolchild. I knew in the back of Carly's mind she was giving me a death glare for even getting the gun for Sam to have access to. Spencer and Gibby began to edge forward to look at the gun.

"And no one with the name Spencer or Gibby is allowed to touch it!" Carly didn't even look at the two who slumped back into their seats as she barked the order at them. I got a vibration in my pocket.

_From: Dad_

_Hey, you ready to start wrapping it up in about an hour? I gotta come get you and get you prepped for the surgery._

I texted a quick response back:

_Yeah, I'll be ready in a few_

I put the phone back into my pocket. Sam cradled the gun inside the box close to her chest.

"Hey, guys, not to break up the introduction of our gun child or anything, but I gotta head back to bushwall for my dad to pick me up. He's gotta get me back over to Seattle Grace-Mercy West to prep me and get the chip out."

"You're finally getting that out?" Spencer asked, turning the chair around and leaning on its back.

"Well, when your dad's a pediatric surgeon, you have special advantages" I wagged my finger at him sassily.

"Oh! So he's gonna crack your skull open and stuff? Can I watch!" Sam asked. I shot her a look.

"No, you cannot see me when I'm being operated on. Now, when I get out of surgery and am all hopped up on morphine…on second thought…Carly, make sure you don't let her bring a video camera."

Carly gave me a thumbs up and a Michelle Tanner impersonation, "You got it dude!"

I swung my head back to Sam after laughing at Carly's corny 90's impersonation. "Plus, I know you care too much about me to see my blood and stuff."

"Well, whatever vinegars your cucumber, Benson. But mama will look after Sally for you" she said, gesturing to the nail gun. I coughed out a laugh.

"Deal."

…

Sam and Gibby had gone upstairs to practice aiming the nail gun at a gigantic dart board we had in the studio after saying their goodbyes and prayers for my recovery. Carly and Spencer stayed downstairs with me until my dad came to pick me up.

"He should be here in ten. At least, that's what his text said. The traffic outside, however, says otherwise" I nuzzled the pillow on to the couch as I yawned and sprawled out on it. Spencer came over, lifting my legs up and sitting underneath them.

"I'm tired. Is it good or bad to be tired before brain surgery?"

"Good, because then you don't get nervous" Spencer said, patting my calf a few times before he rested his own legs on the coffee table. Carly sat on the chair adjacent from us, questioning my motives.

"Why are you even getting it done? The chip shorted out when we were at Nora's house last time."

I sat up and mimicked Spencer's sitting position, intertwining my own fingers together nervously. "I guess…I don't know. I've got this opportunity to kind of start things over again. A clean slate was given to me. I now have the ability to do things how I want. I've been craving for this kind of opportunity to arise for a while now. Plus, not having a GPS tracking device in my head will make me more…."

"Normal?" Carly finished for me, raising an eyebrow.

"Exactly!" I exclaimed. Spencer and Carly gave each other a knowing look and shook their heads. "What?"

"Nothing" they said in unison, both chuckling to themselves. Before I had time to interrogate, I got a text from my dad. He was parked outside and ready to take me to the hospital.

"I guess traffic wasn't that bad. See you guys after I get my skull cracked open, yay!" I shouted sarcastically, pumping my fist in the air and clicking my heels together whilst in the doorway.

Carly waved to me, "Bye-"

"OW! My buttocks!" a male voice shouted in a high-pitched squeal from upstairs. I stopped in the doorway and heard a thud.

"I told you I was gonna shoot!" Sam's voice bellowed from upstairs. There was wimpering and footsteps. "Are you gonna get up or?"

"Gibby?...Sam?" Carly began to panic, flying up the stairs. Spencer looked over at me, as if to expect me to be able to telepathically know what happened. Well, my hypothesis consisted of Sam with the nail gun shooting and Gibby…well, being Gibby.

I sighed loudly, making eye contact with Spencer. "I'll text my dad saying we've got one more for the ride to the hospital."

…

Awkward rides to the hospital are always fun, not! Carly, Spencer, and Sam had to fit into the backseat with Gibby sprawled on top of all their laps, dorsal side up. Spencer was rubbing his shoulders to calm him down until the pain meds my dad administered from his handy car first-aid kit kicked in. No one spoke for the first thirty minutes of the car ride.

"He got shot in the butt with…what!" My dad finally asked, trying to ration how this all happened.

"A nail gun" I sighed, closing my eyes and leaning my head back against the head rest. "Yes, I realize how crazy that sounds…but that's Gibby for ya."

"And who shot him?"

"Me" Sam waved. I opened my eyes and saw my dad eye the back seat via the rear view mirror.

"And that's Sam for ya" I answered calmly, closing my eyes again.

"I thought so. Freddie's told me so much about you guys, especially you, Sam."

My face began to turn red. "Oh really, now?" She smirked. "And what did Fredward tell you?"

My dad kept flickering his eyes into the rearview mirror, "That you're a spit fire…and clearly, he was spot-on" his eyes gestured to Gibby in the back seat, groaning. We pulled up to the hospital. My dad ran inside and came back about five minutes later in his scrubs on and a stretcher to put Gibby on as he was giving instructions to another doctor and nurse that came out with him.

"Gibby, age sixteen, got shot with a nail gun penetrating the gluteus maximus and possibly hitting bone. No exit wound. Heart rate is 170 over fifty-three, everything else is stable" Gibby moaned and groaned as he was lifted and put face-down on the stretcher.

"Bye, Gib" we all waved sympathetically. He retorted with:

"Uuuuurrrrrggggghhhh"

…

My dad came back out to the lobby to give us an update on Gibby.

"Your friend's gonna be fine. Dr. Torres is our finest orthopedic surgeon. It didn't hit any bone, luckily. We got the nail out, but Dr. Torres says he won't be sitting or walking around comfortably for quite some time."

Carly and I glared at Sam, who was sitting in the middle of both of us.

"I'll go apologize to the kid later. Let the guilt set in, would ya?" Sam waved her hand down, grabbing a fatcake out of her jacket pocket. My dad just raised his eyebrows and gestured me to come with him.

"Ok Freddie, ready to get prepped?"

"Yes sir!" I bounced up and waved to Carly, Sam and Spencer as I followed my dad. He led me into a peds room that had a pink separator curtain in the middle.

"This'll be your pre-op and post-op room. Until he gets discharged tomorrow, you'll have Gibby as your roommate" he opened the curtain to show Gibby sleeping on his stomach, moaning. "Then you'll get a new roommate as of tomorrow, cool?"

"Coolio."

"I also put down that you're seventeen so you'd be able to be admitted into peds and I can keep a closer eye on you. I won't be doing your surgery myself, but the best brain surgeon in Seattle, heck, the whole country, Dr. Sheppard and the best peds surgeon, Dr. Robbins, will be. They'll be here in a few to evaluate you and answer any questions you have, good?"

"Great."

…

I just laid on the OR table, exposed in my hospital gown. While there, I thought of every possibility of a complication during my surgery. What if I died on the table? Even if this Sheppard guy is God and Robbins is the best there is, they can make mistakes No one's perfect, they're people. Simple operations can go astray all the time; I've seen plenty in my days of watching videos my mom brought home when she worked at Seattle press.

Dr. Sheppard and Dr. Robbins came into my field of vision a few moments later, followed by my dad who was to only observe.

"Okay, Freddie. It's a beautiful day to operate" Dr. Sheppard said shyly as he smiled at me, easing me a bit.

Dr. Robbins leaned closer to me. I could tell she was smiling, even though the surgical mask. "Let's get at it then. Count backwards from ten slowly, please?"

As the anesthesia mask went over my face, I almost forgot to count.

"Ten…nine…eight…seven…six"

My eyes had drifted closed.

_But suddenly they had opened again. I continued my counting in an echo._

"_Five…four…three…two" I pointed in front of me. My camera was on my shoulder, but I was pointing to darkness. I was about to speak, but then I heard someone else counting down from five behind me. I turned around. _

"_In five…four…three…two…one" the guy shakily pointed to Carly, Sam and Gibby in front of him. He was also holding the camera by the bottom with no support on his shoulder at all._

"_You don't say the one!" I whisper-yelled. "When you say the one, the camera picks up on your voice and it continues into the audio. And you hold the camera like this" I stepped forward towards the mysterious camera man to reset the position of the camera, but walked through him instead. "What the!" I pushed my arm though him. I was transparent!_

"_Whoa" I tried self-soothing myself with a calm voice._

"_You're ok". I was pushing my arm in and out of his torso; I pulled it back to me. The camera that was on my shoulder had vanished as well, giving my other hand a chance at freedom. Everything about this unsettled me as I continued watching._

_Carly jumped in front of the camera with a perky smile on her face, "Welcome to the webernet show we like to call ylraCi!"it sounded like jibberish, but I remember the gag from talking to her earlier this week. They were doing this week's episode of iCarly!_

"_I think you meant…iCarly" Sam nudged her side playfully, clearly being a part of the banter. "Nevertheless, we have some new for you guys! It seems our technical producer, Fredward Benson, has just vanished into thin air!" She snapped for effect. What! I have not vanished! I'm right freakin' here._

"_NO!" I snapped right back, waving my arms as I snapped. "I'm right here!" I jumped up and down, hoping for her to notice me. "Sam! Carly! Gibby!"_

"_It's true, one minute; he was getting surgery, the next minute, BAM!" Gibby clapped his hands together and silenced himself. Carly and Sam leaned forward and turned their heads to the side._

"_And?..." Sam added on._

"_Oh! Oh uhhh, I dunno, he got hit by a bus."Gibby shrugged. What!_

"_Hit by a- hold up!" I walked onto the set, standing in front of all three of them, making a commotion._

"_Guys! I'm right here, don't you see me" I hopped around nearly every square inch of the studio. "Look, I'm still here. I didn't get hit by a bus, I'm alive and…transparent!"_

"_Say hello to our new tech producer, my boyfriend, Joey Bates! Woooo!" Sam pressed the applause button on her remote as Joey set down the camera on the cart. _

"_Switching to the 'E' cam?" he questioned himself, pressing a button on his belt._

"_V CAM!" I screeched. He walked right through me, discombobulating me. He and Sam met in the middle of the studio as I regained my balance._

"_Oh baby, you're so cute. But it's the V cam" Sam corrected him politely._

"_Who cares?" He shrugged. Sam shrugged back_

"_I guess not" she said as he pulled her forward in a furiously passionate kiss. I felt my heart sink. Overfilling with disgust and fury, I fell to my knees. Carly and Gibby also began kissing; I could hear all their thoughts in-sync._

"_Freddie who?" They all chanted, mocking me. All of them stopped kissing each other and each set of their eyes pierced through me. I actually felt the pressure and the pain._

"_Freddie who?"_

"_No…no…no" I felt myself frozen, unable to get up from my kneeled position. I pressed my hands to my ears, hoping to drown out their voices, but it was no use. They had infiltrated my mind with the sense that they didn't care where I was. They never cared at all whether I was alive or dead. "NO!"_

_A sudden floating feeling came over me as I felt pressure on my upper body. I had been pulled to my feet._

"_It's hard, isn't it? Being forgotten" the voice was feminine and familiar. I turned around and saw the figure of my mother before me. She appeared tired and worried, just as always._

_"Mom!" I gasped, running to her at full-force. She held on to her half-smile, which was fading as I came closer to her until I finally ran past her, and through her. I whimpered, just as she did. I pushed my arm through her just as I had done with Joey._

"_I'm sorry" she hung her head low. She was sorry I couldn't hug her, like it was her fault._

"_It's not your fault, mom. I'm transparent too."_

"_I'm sorry" she repeated. "I'm sorry for leaving you so suddenly."_

"_But, mom, you died. There's no controlling that."Suddenly, a stroke of pain hit full forced against my chest. My heart beat that I'd been feeling this whole time in my throat had disappeared. I gasped for a breath. For the first time, my mother could actually physically touch me. She held me up and rubbed my back as the episode came to a halt before becoming transparent again._

_She picked up right where she left off as I felt my heartbeat in my throat again. "I know, but as your mother, your caregiver, I should feel some kind of responsibility for leaving you alone. You're lucky your dad took you in. He was a good man, Fredward."_

"_Is" I corrected her. "Unless…wait, am I dead!"_

"_Of course not, sweetie. This is all in the midst of your imagination. But I did have to come back. Freddiebear, I came back to remind you of something: me. You have forgotten who you are, and so you have forgotten me" she frowned, rubbing her hands together. There was no worse feeling than not being able to comfort your mother physically when she's in pain like this._

"_Mom-" I was cut off again by the sound of my heart beat dying. I gasped for air once more. My mother was able to touch me again. This time, I clung to her, almost hugging her. I actually felt her tears embed themselves in my hair. Once I could feel the beating again, just as before, she became transparent._

"_Never. I'll never forget who you are, mom."_

"_It started to feel like you were. You never seem to pray to me anymore."_

"_You're the biggest part of who I am, and I'll do my darn best to remind both of us that every day with the decisions I make. I know I don't pray to you like I did the first week you were gone. Mom, it's because I miss you so…damn…m-much. Every time I'm reminded that the only time I can talk to you, you can't talk back. It hurts me, mom."_

"_I know, dear. I know. And all I can do is hope that you'" she smiled at me and reached for my head._

"_Mom, you can't-" I warned._

"_Shhhhh…" she patted my head. I felt contact with my mother for the first time without being in pain and having my heart stop. Her hand swept down my face and cupped my shoulder, gently shaking me. "Freddie…listen to me. It's time to wake up. Wake up, Freddie."_

"Wake up" a deep voice instructed me. The grip on my shoulder grew stronger. The hand that was on my shoulder felt different too. Bigger. My eyes shot open. Everything in the room appeared fuzzy and distorted. Did I just come out a dream?

"Freddie" the voice echoed once again with a little hint of panic. My nostril's flared and my breathing became rapid and shallow. The monitor's beep progressively caught up to the pace of my breathing. The room started to get fuzzier as I cringed and hyper flexed my neck and shook against the back of the headboard. The same feeling in my chest I'd experienced twice in the dream was flooding back.

"Breathe! You need to breathe!" The feeling of hell had stopped. Something was now on my face, an oxygen masked I presumed. My heart rate and breathing rate came back down to normal. I could see clearly now, too clearly. My dad's panic-stricken face breathed a sigh of relief when I made eye contact with him. Sweat from his head was wiped off by his hand as he put something down on the table next to me. They were paddles for the AED machine. If my heart rate had gotten too out of hand, I could've flat lined.

"Oh thank God" I heard him whisper, appearing next to me again. Burying his head on my stomach, he shed a few tears and shook his head, mumbling something inaudible. After his moment, he took regular medical precautions and began a post-op exam on me, checking my eyes with a bright light that made me squint.

"What…what happened?" My speech was slurred, but understandable.

My dad tried to explain it to me as calmly as he could. He still had a bit of shake in his voice. "Some complications arose when you were opened up. Sheppard and Robbins found some bleeding that we had no idea was there. Mistakenly, we didn't bother to take an MRI beforehand. Did anything happen that could've caused it?" He grabbed a chart next to me as I thought about any possibility of injuring my head. Then, I remembered.

"Well, I was at the gym with Gibby and Carly last week. We were all going hardcore on the stair steppers. Carly lost her balance on the stair stepper next to me, so I reached out to grab her and ended up losing my balance and hitting my head on the hand grip near the side. I didn't think much of it besides the slight headache I had afterwards. Could that have caused it? It was such a little fall."

"Freddie" my father was about to get super serious with me. "You have to get checked out _every_ single time you injure yourself, especially in the head! I'm not gonna lecture you, but just…come to me next time. Use better judgment."

I'd never felt such disappointment from a parent before. The new feeling had me gripping at the sides of my bed.

"Because of the bleeding, we couldn't get the chip out, and we won't attempt it a second time. They had to restart your heart during this surgery…twice."

"_Twice?_" I squeaked. I sighed and sunk into the hospital bed, pulling the blanket up to my chest. My father nodded and silently made a note in the chart. So _that's_ what I'd felt whenever pain struck me in the dream. My mother was only able to touch me because I was on the line of death. But how did she touch me right before I woke up?

"We're keeping you under observation for the next 24 hours. Dr. Sheppard and Dr. Robbins just want to make sure the bleeding is stabilized and get an MRI. You are to stay in this bed where I can keep an eye on you."

"Daaaaad" I moaned, closing my eyes.

He pointed his index finger at me. "You're staying right where I can keep an eye on you, _capeesh_?"

"Uh huh" I replied dryly, rolling over.

"Maybe having that chip is a good thing, Freddie. It makes you…different. Being different it good" My father smiled at me.

"That's the nice way of calling me abnormal."

"Abnormal isn't such a bad thing either" He left the room with my chart and headed down the hallway. Snoring came from the other side of the room as Gibby drooled on a pillow in a hospital gown. On his bottom, there was some bandages and dressing to cover his gunshot wound.

I had to quietly chuckle to myself as I spotted a blow-up doughnut waiting beside the bed. Poor Gibby. Once that morphine wears off, this injury will literally be the biggest pain in the ass he'd ever dealt with, besides Sam.


	3. Smells like teen spirit

**Jealous Guy**

Chapter 3: Smells like teen spirit

(Freddie's POV)

My taste buds triggered my face to become twisted with disgust. Nevertheless, I kept eating the jello my dad was feeding me. I had actually begun to sweat because it took so much force for me to swallow the lime green substance; I'm surprised I didn't gag.

My dad began to sympathize with me when he looked up and caught my disgusted gaze. I'm no actor, so my face didn't change a bit. "Hospital food sucks, I know. I had an arrhythmia a while ago. Couldn't even stomach it."

"How is this even edible? It tastes like…"

"Crap?"

I scoffed, "that's putting it lightly."

I finished the small plate of jello and moved on to the macaroni. It didn't taste like anything, but it beat the upchuck worthy jello. Plus, it's helping keep the jello down in my stomach. I kept glancing over to my pile of schoolwork that kept growing. A new friend of mine from school, Seth, kept dropping it off at my dad's place.

"Dad, it's Tuesday. I'm really far behind in my studies. Can I be released now?"

"Negative. Sheppard and Robbins want to make sure the bleeding in your brain hasn't started back up. That, and to make sure that whatever caused the bleeding won't happen again. Relax, you're graduating early anyway. Only two more weeks until you'll have graduated high school."

I groaned and ate one more bite of macaroni. "I'm full."

My dad set the fork on the plastic tray and pushed the table away. He had been sitting on the side of the bed, but pushed back to the foot. "Just two more days." He left without another word, smiling at me on the way out. Before he could swing a left turn to go down the hall, Dr. Robbins stopped him and pointed back into my room. He spun on his heel and turned back to come into the room, poking his head in.

"You have a visitor. Dr. Sloan found her wondering around downstairs and is bringing her up now."

"Do you know who it is?"

"I think it's Carly." Sure enough, Dr. Sloan accompanied my brunette friend into the room. My dad got paged by Dr. Robbins again and jetted out of the door. The physique of the man's voice that came in was eerily familiar to me; not in a good way. He and Carly were laughing as they entered the room. Patting her on the back, he spoke directly to me.

"For a second there, I thought I had another Sloan spawn I didn't know about when I saw this pretty, young thing roaming the halls" he and Carly laughed simultaneously. Maybe it was the lack of _actual_ food this place served me, but I didn't laugh along. The laughter died down.

"Anyway, I see you're the man of the hour...Yang was right, Evil Spawn has produced a spawn of his own. Nerd Spawn, that's your new name!" The man pointed to me. I finally realized where I remembered him from and just stared at him. He gave Carly one last pat on the waist and left the room. By the way my face looked; Carly could tell something was up.

"Why is your face twisted so….odd?"

"That doctor, the one you just came in with? He slept with my mom."

Carly took a seat calmly in the chair by my bed. The color in her face flushed to a slightly greenish tone before she shouted a curling "EWWW!" at the top of her lungs.

"I know right?" The thought of it was enough to flip my stomach to Japan and back again. "To get off the horrid subject of my late mother's sex life, how have things been with you, C-Shay?" I perched forward in my bed, resting my elbows in my lap and using my fists to support my face. C-Shay was a corny nickname I came up with when Carly, Sam and I went camping a few months ago in the summer. Ever since, it just kinda stuck.

"Good, real good. Spencer's meeting his long-time pen pal in San Francisco this week, so I have to keep the fort down at Casa Del Shay." I just laughed at the image of Spencer causing a ruckus (which could easily happen with him being…well, Spencer).

I scooted over even more in my bed and patted down a spot for Carly to sit on. It felt so business-like with her sitting on the char next to my bed. The doctors would do that when they came to check on me. Since it was Carly, I wanted it to be a little more personal. She sat down, put one of the sides up and leaned most of her weight on it.

"Where's the mother of my nail gun?"

Carly's neck muscles tightened a little bit. "She's breaking up with her boyfriend."

"Huh?"

"When I left to come here, she was pacing the hallway outside of my apartment in a hushed tone and said 'I guess we're over' and then stalked off before I could even get to her. She seemed pretty upset." Carly stared at her thumbs, which she was twiddling together to distract herself.

"A couple of shots with that nail gun at Mr. Howard's car and she'll feel good as new" I joked, Carly laughed along for a good solid minute. We both knew there was so much truth in that statement.

"What's so funny?" someone appeared in the doorway. The owner of the voice was Sam. She toed into the room quietly, closing the door behind her.

"I was just talking about how you'd take our nail gun and practice your aim on Mr. Howard's car."

"Just finished with that, actually" She formed a gun with her thumb and index fingers, blew into it, and stuck it in her pocket. "That sucker got a solid eight nails in it before the alarm even went off"

Carly and I were unsure how Sam was composed so neatly after just breaking up with her boyfriend. On the outside, we were laughing hysterically as Sam detailed every moment from when she had to reload the nail gun until Mr. Howard finally came outside and cried about his car. The nail gun took her mind off of it. Carly and I looked at each other and were thinking the same exact thing on the inside: she's definitely not ok.

"And then he got Briggs out there to calm him down. He was crying like a bitch." she wiped a tear from laughing so much. "Oh, man, I crack myself up."

"So….you're happy?" I asked, sitting up a little bit more. She scoffed.

"Heck yeah! Couldn't be happier." she sang, sitting on the other side of my bed. If there's anything Sam won't do, it's talk about her feelings with both of us in the room. Carly pretended that her phone went off.

"Spencer can't find his noodle?…I'll be right back." She hopped off the bed and held the phone to her ear. Now it was just me and Sam, alone. I figured it'd take a while to crack the dam of feelings Sam's built up, so I decided to pursue the avenue of world news first.

"So, Puckett….how about tho-" I couldn't even finish the sentence before she broke.

She cut me off and buried her head deep into the covers of my blanket, sobbing hysterically. My hand automatically went to her back, rubbing up and down to try to calm her nerves. "Joey and I broke up!"

"Oh…my. This is brand new information." I said as convincingly as I could (which wasn't that convincing at all, Sam read right through me.) Nevertheless, she never poked her head up. She may have cried in front of me, but she'll never let me see a tear escape her eyes no matter how much pain she was in. She was going to keep her head there until the tear flow stopped.

"I hate this. I hated this feeling. Breaking up really sucks, you know?"

"I know, I know, shhhhh….Hey, you and I had to do it" I cooed. Normally, I'd never coo to Sam (or any adult), but I have been told that my cooing voice is very soothing. They were right because Sam's short, staggered breathing returned back to normal.

"But, that was different. For you and me…it just wasn't possible, ever, you know? Joey and I were amazing together! We both loved food, violence, and he had his own car!"

"Well, you know my mom left the prius in my name" I joked. It definitely lightened the mood and made Sam's true smile come out for the first time since she'd came into the room. The tears must have stopped because she poked her head up, wiping the stray ones from her face before making eye contact with me again. I made an attempt at a subtle smile. She moved herself to the foot of my leg, stretching her legs up near my head as we talked some more.

"So, when's your noggin gonna be back to full use, dorkaziod? You've got graduation nd finals soon."

"Ugh, don't even remind me. I get out soon, hopefully. I might die from starving to death. Can you do me a favor and get some real food, _pleeeeeeease?_" I did my best to beg Sam. She didn't buy into my begging face. So I surfaced up a twenty to sweeten the deal.

"Get yourself something too."

"With twenty bucks?.. Eh, I guess I can manage. Later, gator."

She walked out of the room and Carly shuffled back in after staring at Sam leaving.

"How'd damage control go?"

"Good, I guess. I mean, she cried a little bit, but I gave her some money for food and she perked up a bit" My legs were getting cramped in that bed, so I got up and decided to be mobile around my room.

"I was eavesdropping in the hallway and heard what she said…about you guys never working out. How's that feel?" Carly crossed her arms and crossed the room so she was across from me.

"Honestly? It stung a bit, but things happen for a reason. We broke up. It's God's way of saying to go after someone else. Someone who won't break your heart, you know?" I tried shrugging it off as nothing. Sam and I were special together, but I think we both knew that deep down inside, we wouldn't last.

"Totally."

"Mr. Benson. We have your new roommate, we're gonna wheel her in now" A nurse addressed me and opened the divider curtain in my room. I whipped around to investigate who I'd be sharing a room with. They were wheeling in a sleeping girl who was around my age with long, brunette hair and plucky, red lips. A panging in my chest kind of stung when they closed the curtain.

That girl was _beautiful_.


	4. How I met your mother

**Jealous Guy**

Chapter 4: How I Met Your Mother

(Freddie's POV)

January 23rd 2030

I was downstairs in my den playing with a new little robot I'd just built my son, Josh. He was turning five in July and growing up too fast for his old dad. The poor kid was the only boy amongst four girls. His sisters Stevie, Robin, Lily, and Kristi always had their cotton-pink ponies and tiaras to play with. I couldn't build those, but I knew a thing or two about robots, especially after watching Star Wars and micromanaging a toy-building business along with computer software and directing.

Then again, there was Stevie, the oldest child. My wife and I had her back when we were nineteen and not even married. We waited awhile to have more kids, which resulted in us having twice as many the second time around, twins! And then we had Kristi and then Josh. And my wife you may ask? That's just the story I'm about to tell my kids. I'm going to tell them about how I could have started the rest of my life with someone else and they wouldn't even be alive.

"Josh!" I hollered from the den. "Come down her for a sec!"

Little pitter-patters came tumbling down the stairs as the short little boy with brown hair trotted down them. "Yeah dad?"

"C'mere! Sit on papa's lap and I'll show you my new robot. Well…_your _new robot."

"All mine!"

"All yours."

"Yes!"

"Tell it something."

"Get me a juice box, beyotch!"

My mouth swung wide open. "Josh!" I scolded the young child who was snickering at his comment. He shut up right away when he met my glaring look.

"Sorry."

"Buddy, you have to start watching that mouth of yours…and I'm gonna have to have a talk with mommy later about _her_ mouth in front of you and your sisters."

Many footsteps trotted down the stairs a few moments later. The rest of Freddie's children came down the stairs.

"Boys and their toys" Stevie sighed. "Dad, did you ever get beat up as a kid?"

"Darling, who cares about that when you've got success riding your shoulders in your adulthood?...and yes, I did….quite often."

"Geez, if you're this much of a dork now…I can't even imagine back then" Robin threw in.

"I second that" Lily said.

"Well, I was…and then, I almost fell in love with the wrong woman. You see kids, I almost married someone else. I almost never married your mother."

All the kids gasped at once and gathered in a circle around the floor. Josh slipped down and sat next to the twins.

"Dad, is there some long story behind this? Mom said dinner's in fifteen minutes."

I looked at my watch and laughed. "Kids, your mother's sense of time is nonexistent. However, I can probably fit it all in fifteen minutes if you listen up. Sit tight, kids, because I'm about to tell you the story of how I married your mother. And it is…magical."

…

(Present day)

I felt breezes of wind knock on my face, but it didn't break my gaze. The sleeping girl gurgled in her sleep and shifted a bit. I felt a stinging in my eye two seconds later.

I held my eye and grunted at Carly, the culprit behind the flick. "OW!"

"Need a bucket, Benson? Take a picture, it lasts longer."

The blood rushed to my face as I felt unstable. Minutes must've passed. Doctors from various wings of the hospital surrounded me. My father pointed a little flashlight in my eye as I awoke.

"Good, he's awake", he grunted, putting away the little flashlight and helping me to my feet. The other doctors fleeted from the room. A stingy feel came from the side of my face. Fresh stitches. Great. "The side of the bed gashed your face pretty good. Do me a favor…give me twenty-four hours without causing me to have a myocardial infarction, deal?"

I laughed as I leaned on his chest for a little hug. "Deal."

"Good. I'm off for the next forty-eight hours, so Dr. Howser will be coming in to check on you."

He left the room. I sat in my bed alone. Two girly giggles came from the side of me. Carly and the beautiful girl I had been gawking at were looking right at me. That heart flutter came right back in my chest. It panged harshly.

"You took quite a fall there, Cadman."

"Cadman?" Carly questioned. "Who is-"

"The famous tightrope walker!" I stated. Was this really happening? I don't think I've met anyone in my entire life who knew that. Maybe it was just a fact she read on a cereal box or something.

"You got that!" She asked just as excitedly as I did.

"Well, I'll just escort myself out so my brain doesn't explode." Carly got up quickly and whisked by the window, giving me a thumbs up. I laughed quietly to myself.

"What?" the girl asked.

"Nothing. My friend's just silly. I'm Freddie, by the way."

The girl got up from the bed and took the chair Carly was sitting on to the side of my bed. "Amelia. And please don't ask me if I know how to pilot a plane." She smiled shyly and shook my hand with a pretty firm grip.

"What are you in for?" I asked in hopes to keep conversation alive. This hospital had many deceased things inside of it.

"I fainted at my little brother's softball game from exhaustion. They're running tests again to make sure it's not serious or anything."

I nodded and listened closely. She asked me the same question and the conversation eventually spiraled into a completely different setting. It went from small talk to my mother. Then it went from my mother to her mother. Her mom died when she was five in a plan accident. That eventually plugged into a conversation about aviation. That spiraled into a gruesome game of 'would you rather'.

"I got one", I smirked, and holding the pudding a nurse gave us a few minutes ago. "Would you rather donate your body to science, or have your corpse put in a haunted house as a prop?"

The wheels in her head spun for a little but before she answered without a speck of doubt, "Definitely donate it to science. Scaring little kids on Halloween would be pretty legendary, but why not give science a real mystery?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean…I'm a complex girl. My heart is the strongest organ in my body, but logic always seems to trump it."

"Nothing wrong with that", I shrugged. "It just means that you always make smart choices."

"But not a right choice…"

I paused from swallowing my pudding to ponder her own thought for her. I swallowed and felt a giant lump go down my throat. "I suppose not."

She sighed and finished her pudding cup. I finished mine a spoonful after she did and made the impulsive move to grab her hand. Stunned at first, she eased up and held mine just as tenderly.

"I know IVs and tapioca pudding doesn't scream romance…but would you consider going on a date with me? This hospital reminds me that life is too short not to take a chance. We were merely strangers moments ago. But I really feel like we have a connection."

"…That was…the corniest thing I've ever heard", she laughed. "Sounded like something from a jackass in a soap opera."

I laughed along with her. Even I had to admit that it was extremely cheesy, even for me. "And the girl always says yes…wouldn't wanna go off script, would we?"

"You're sneaky!" She poked my nose and gripped my hand tighter. "But…I can't say no."

"Guess this is the first time you're listening to your heart, huh?"

She wasn't looking at me before, but she met my eyes and held a friendly gaze. She flashed a stunning smile. "I guess so. Even if one of us gets hurt…I guess that's the fun part. The risk."

I grinned and thought that was the end of it. But she put her free hand behind my head and gently tugged me in to meet my lips with hers. The kiss lasted only a few seconds in Mississippi-time. But to me, it lasted a lifetime.

The beautiful moment halted when a lanky, tall, blonde doctor who had to be new to the business cleared his throat loudly.

"You know…this isn't the first time I've walked into a room and that was happening today", he laughed to lighten the mood.

Amelia and I pulled away as Dr. Howser pulled out a wheelchair. "We're taking you down for your cat scan now, Amelia."

She looked at me as Dr. Howser escorted her to the wheelchair and helped her sit down.

"When?" I asked just as Dr. Howser was about to pull her out of the room.

"How about after my cat scan? Should only last about twenty minutes. I hear they're serving chicken for dinner."

Dr. Howser wheeled her away after I nodded with approval. After they were out of sight, I let out a loud "YES!" and accidentally hit a tray. The wound on my hand was oozing with blood. But it didn't matter. I had a date tonight.

I smiled as fatigue came over me and I was put into a deep slumber.


	5. Daddy's home

**Jealous Guy**

Chapter 5: Daddy's home

(Freddie's POV)

I was finally released from the hospital. Weeks went by and I had a new routine. I've stopped by the hospital everyday to visit Amelia and hang out with my dad when he's on break. I've also gotten to know some of his good colleagues. That Dr. Sloan still didn't sit right with me.

That didn't leave much time for Carly and Sam. They were still in school. Since I graduated early, I've been out of school for about a week now. Freedom from the educational world never felt so sweet. Amelia still had school, so I'd help her study after we fooled around for a bit. This hospital had no privacy, so we kept our playing field to just first base.

Speaking of bases, Amelia's fainting at her brother's game was due to a cardiac arrhythmia. It's an irregular heartbeat basically. At least, that's what my father told me. He didn't look too convincing when he broke the news to me, but he had also worked a double shift and was ready to drop like a fly. He was off the next day, so I let him sleep while I visited Amelia.

Dr. Yang was checking her heart when I stopped by the door. She wrote something down on her chart and told Amelia that she would check back on her in an hour. She saw me waiting by the doorframe and greeted her usual way.

"Junior Evil Spawn, where's your elder today?"

"He plans to sleep all day."

She scoffed, "I hate that bastard for getting to sleep all day."

As usual, Dr. Yang left me speechless as she left the room. Amelia, highly entertained, was laughing to herself. Her cute little giggle caught my attention.

"You think that's funny?" I asked her in a light-hearted tone. She nodded. I resorted to giving her a playful tickle. All tangled up in the sheets, she was kicking around for me to stop through her loud bouts of laughter. I practically had her begging by the time I decided to throw in the towel. When I stopped, one of her arms hit one of the sides of the bed, hard.

"You okay?" I asked as I looked at her elbow. She winced.

"Must have hit a nerve or something. No biggie." She kept her elbow from my reach and winced as I saw her look at it. I got a better view by standing on my tip-toes.

"It's already bruising", I said in a concerned tone. "Do you always bruise this easily?"

"Like a peach", she laughed. I chuckled mildly to benefit her, but I didn't think this was any laughing matter. Regardless, I bent down and gave her a peck on the forehead before getting the chair I always sat in. Amelia pulled up her backpack and moaned. "English homework. Yuck."

"You're in luck, m'dear. An English wiz is at your disposal."

"Good", she threw her backpack in my lap. "I have to write a Shakespearian sonnet. Get on it!"

"Not so fast. Shakespeare is something you have to learn for yourself to truly appreciate. 'Once more unto the breach dear friends'."

"What?"

I laughed a little bit before pulling out her notebook. "It's from one of his plays."

"Oh", she said.

"You wanna know something funny? I didn't truly appreciate Shakespeare until I dated this girl a few years ago. To me, Shakespeare was writing about something I didn't understand. All that text about suns and moons and mother and fathers, it sounded like he just said the most random sentences and people thought it was art. It wasn't until I fell in love with this girl that I understood Shakespeare's lingo. When you're in love, _you_ don't make sense either. The stuff that comes out of your mouth when you're in love is unbelievably mushy and confusing. But you understand it perfectly because you can feel it. Whenever I read a sonnet now, I always channel that feeling of being a tongue-tied, stupid idiot in love."

Little did I know, Amelia was writing down every word I said. I looked over at the paper and read it through. She changed a few words to make it sound more sonnet-like and from a girl's point-of-view.

"Who was it?" She asked.

I was less than willing to reveal that to her, so I just shook my head. "No one you know."

"Sam?"

I stopped in the motion of biting my lip and my look to her must have given it away. "How'd you know?"

"I may have only caught a few webisodes of iCarly in my day, but I can see the chemistry you have with both girls. Especially Sam. And that kind of chemistry never goes away."

"Well, I don't see myself perusing either one of them, especially Sam, anywhere in the future. If chemistry's there, great. It'll strengthen our friendship."

"Promise me something…if, and remember the hypothetical nature of this question. If something were to happen that made us unable to be together, you would get back together with Sam."

The question stunned me. I tried being careful in my body language, but it was too far-gone. My inhale hitched. My shoulders pinned forward and the rest of my body became much closed. Almost as if I was literally trying to block something. Block this question.

"W-…why would say that?" I didn't ask it condescendingly, I asked it curiously.

"I feel like Sam's the type of person that could put you back together if you ever fell apart. I like her. She's tough, like me."

I smiled and looked down at my lap again. Arrhythmias rarely kill people, especially when they were caught this early. Still, I couldn't help but worry for Amelia's health. Grabbing her hand, I stroked it softly. My text tone went off twice. I picked up my phone and saw a frantic message from Carly. I needed to go to her apartment now.

"I gotta run", I told Amelia, kissing her cheek. "See you tomorrow?"

She nodded. "See ya."

…

Carly met me in the lobby of the elevator. She's been standing there since she texted me. Next to her stood a tall, thin, blonde man with worry creases in his forehead. When she finally saw me, a relief took over her face as she dragged me onto the elevator with the blonde man following behind us. She pushed the emergency stop button on the elevator.

"Okay, so I texted you to get your booty over here because Sam might go through an emotional breakdown in the next couple of minutes and I needed you here."

"Because…?" I asked.

She pointed to the blonde man. "Sam's dad's here."

The blonde man waved shyly. "Dean Puckett", he said, shaking my hand firmly. The man put his hand back inside his pants pocket. Dressed in a well-tailored suit, you wouldn't think he was the other half that genetically created Sam. I mean, look at her mom. Sam said her dad left when she was a toddler. By looks, this man seemed like a successful, wealthy family man. Looks can sting.

Carly pushed the button and the elevator worked up again to our floor. Sam was standing outside of the apartment door pacing. She looked at Carly.

"You locked the door and the key was-"she stopped and focused herself on the man in the suit. Fifteen years of aging may have changed him a bit, but Sam clearly knew his face. Her own face swelled with hatred. "What do _you _want?"

"To explain", he said in a low voice. It was the first time I heard him speak. His eyes softly narrowed in on her with an affectionate glow. "You grew up well. You still have those eyes. My eyes."

"The only thing you ever gave me was grief."

"Sam…I came here to explain. I'm sure we can be mature adults about this and have a real conversation."

Sam made a farting noise at him and barged in the apartment after Carly had locked the door. Carly, dumbfounded, just stood there, frozen. Dean barged in just as rudely. I laughed to myself at the coincidence between him and his daughter in that moment. It mustered after a few seconds as I walked in with Carly. Sam and her dad were bickering in the middle of the living room.

"Very mature. Look, young lady-"

"Don't you dare 'young lady' me. You have no fucking right. You walked out and never gave a second glance. What was it, huh? What was your motive to leave me, mom, and Melanie? Was it mom? Was it us? Did you have a tranny you were shacking up with?"

Even in his fumed state, Sam's father never raised his voice above a murmur until he said this: "I had to leave to find work, god damnit! Your treatment in the hospital was expensive. I, with my degree from MIT, had to go across the country to New York to get a job to be able to barely cover it! Your mother couldn't work. She had to watch Mel and stay with you. I paid for your treatment and never got a call back from your mother about your progress. _I thought you were dead!_"

Sam stayed quiet. She didn't look to her father; she looked to Carly and me to see what our reaction would be. The second he said 'treatment', Sam knew we'd have some questions. Come to think of it, Sam didn't tell us anything about her life up until she was eight years old. She looked back at her father with a defeated look.

"I never knew", she mumbled.

"Well, your mom was always good at lying." He took a step towards her. Slowly, as if coming up to a wild horse. Sam tensed up and her eyes filled with tears.

"I had leukemia. Got diagnosed right after I turned four." This was directed for me and Carly. Sam's father just painfully watched as his daughter became totally undone when she directed herself back to him. "I thought you left because I was sick. I thought you left because you were too weak to see your daughter die."

"I left on an indirect order from your mom. We weren't married. I thought you died. So, I just lived my life in New York. Became a successful worker at my office. Also became a womanizer. I'm not proud of some aspects of my life. That's why I came to fix up the patches of my life that were open wounds that never healed. Melanie was in the paper, so I gave her a ring for the first time in years. She told me about you and…here I am."

Sam's father slapped his hands back down to his sides and stood there nervously. I saw him gulp a few times and even break a little bit of a sweat. Under his lapels, his chest heaved. Sam acted in a split-second. She closed the space between them and gave her father a tight embrace. He jumped a little and lifted his arms up. Sam started to sob softly into his dress shirt. This flipped some kind of switch in her father. His arms gripped around her tighter as he bowed his head and tilted it so one of his cheeks laid across the top of her head.

The rocked side to side as Sam's sobs got progressively louder. He shushed her softly and mumbled some gentle words to her.

"Would you guys like some privacy?" Carly asked softly.

Sam's father cupped one of his hands behind her head and nodded. "If you don't mind."

"Not at all. Come on, Freddie. Let's go to the studio or something."

My entire journey to Carly's stairs, I never took my eyes off Sam and her dad. It was a rather touching moment for both of them. Carly raced up the stairs and missed the sight of Sam's father putting his own fist to his mouth and letting out a sob of his own. A sight that broke your heart. I lingered by the top step for a moment more before getting out of sight.

…

Carly leaned against her bed frame as I took a seat by the foot of her bed. She cuddled a blue pillow to her chest.

"I honestly couldn't watch it anymore. The sight made me wanna cry."

"Me too. Man, I had no idea Sam was that broken", I turned my torso to face Carly and gestured with my hands. "She never lets on when she in pain. Like a lame pony in the middle of the battlefield, she gallops through the obstacles no matter how much pain she puts herself through. It was only a matter of time before that happened in the arms of you or me and not her father."

Carly nodded. "Lately, Sam's been down. You live so far away and spend so much time with Amelia. I'm busting my butt to graduate with honors and getting extra tutoring almost every day. She's been by herself a lot lately."

I felt this bit of guilt fester up. Carly and Sam are two of my best friends in the entire world. I wouldn't have been able to go through everything that I did without them by my side. Carly with her comforting hugs and open ears. Sam with her words of wisdom and jokes that made you crack a smile for just a second. But that second took away the pain. It sucked the venom from the wound.

"I feel bad now", I said. "I can't believe it took me that long to figure out why Sam was so secretive about her childhood."

"How do you think I feel? I've known her longer."

We heard a bit of laughter come from downstairs. Carly and I smiled and decided to peek from the stairs. Sam was showing her dad to the door, hugging him before he left, and waving to him after he walked out. Her strut back to the couch made her look like a brand new lady. Carly and I came down the stairs.

"Sam…" Carly started.

"Don't", she interrupted Carly. "I'm in a good place right now. We can talk about 'the thing' later. If you guys have time, wanna go catch a movie?"

Carly knew she had tutoring later. I had plans to go see Amelia at the hospital. But we gave a mutual look and nodded.

"Sure", we said.

And just like old times, we headed across the street to the groovy smoothie to grab our pre-show smoothies. We got to the theater and I paid for the tickets like a gentleman. Most of the time, Carly sat in the middle. But this time, I took her spot. Putting my arms around both girls, it felt just like nothing ever changed.


End file.
